THE EINTOU

The Eintou

Although I am adverse to applying the term "rules"(because I am a firm believer they have no place in poetry) in explaining the Eintou, I find that I cannot escape it (I do however find "guidelines" far more tasty). I have found-and the Eintou has recently found itself non exempt-that once "rules" are applied to poetry, it finds away of bounding beyond them.

Having said all that, the Eintou is an African American septet syllabic/word count form consisting of 2 words/syllables the first line, 4 the second, 6 the third, 8 the fourth, 6 the fifth, 4 the sixth, and 2 the seventh. The form encompasses much African American culture and philosophy (to be explained later), and it offers the African American poet who wishes to write in structured meter an avenue within which to do so without having to employ European structures. The Eintou developed as a means of placing African American poetic forms in the forefront of American poetry. Many African American poetic scholars and critics often attempt to mimic Euro-american forms as a means of demonstrating poetic expertise, or defensively, staunchly (and erroneously) stand by "free-verse" as an African American form (citing its similarities with African oral traditions). Very rarely have I found serious examination of African American poetic forms (Sonku, Loku {though I must admit I have come across no examples of lokus-not even in Baraka's writings, who is supposedly the inventor of the form}, blues and jazz poems); in fact most critics erroneously regard African American poetry as "formless" or "mimicking." There has been some serious effort to analyze the works of the hip-hop culture (to include performance poetry), but hip-hop rests firmly within the realm of music, and I am of the thought that poetry and music are distinct (though there are those who would disagree). Performance poetry as a form rests firmly within the realm of "free-verse," and that form from a cultural standpoint has no "owners"- merely different applications of the same concept.

In the preface to his 1931 The Book of American Negro Poetry, James Weldon Johnson issued a challenge to the black poets of his day: "...find a form that will express the racial spirit by symbols from within rather than by symbols from without, such as the mere mutilation of English spelling and pronunciation (emphasis mine).... a form that is freer and larger than dialect, but which will still hold the racial flavor; a form expressing the imagery, the idioms, the peculiar turns of thought, and the distinctive humor and pathos, too, of the Negro, but which will also be capable of voicing the deepest and highest emotions and aspirations, and allow the widest rage of subjects and the widest scope of treatment." (Pg 41-2) And while the poets of the Harlem Renaissance-most specifically Langston Hughes- answered the call with the development of Blues and Jazz poems (which, it should be strongly noted, were anticipated by Fenton Johnson[1]), which have dominated the poetic landscape of African American poetry through the present, our culture is not static, and the time has come to take the next step in meeting Johnson's call. For our culture has become (and always has been) much, much more than blues and jazz.

The time has come for a form that, while encompassing the strategies of blues and jazz, bounds beyond them into an embodiment of all that we have become as African Americans; a form that frees us from the dialectical restrictions and mere grammatical and spelling distortions of current performance poetry ("postmodern," though some may claim it to be, notwithstanding); a form that allows us to express the diversity of our "highest emotions and aspirations" while not losing any of our racial flavor (imagery, idioms, peculiar turns of thought, humor and pathos). I believe the Eintou answers that call!

The Brother Speaks of Langston

Langston

for the falling

of your lines like raindrops

syncopating across the blues

of my rhythms, I was

replenished. and

because

I dove

the depths of your

diving the sonorous

Mississippi, the unyielding

Nile, the lulling Congo

my soul strengthened

Oh! for

wading

the currents of

your verse and baptizing

myself within unremitting

wisdoms, I know our blood('s)

courses like those

rivers

Breathless

i am

the -ness within

your breasts’ breathless risefall

rhythmed by a poetry that

will be love; imploring

desire dancing

sighly

The structure of the form, as stated hereinabove, encompasses African American culture and historic philosophy. The term Eintou is West African for "pearl" as in pearls of wisdom, and often the Eintou imparts these pearls in heightened language:

Death's "so"?

Death so

often speaks to

us Blacks nowadays that

no one cares to listen, to hear

if he has anything

important to

impart

Dancing with Death

Life's slow

drag and grinding

apprehension laying

completely bare our every cant

prevent from fading to

night's stillness, day's

movements

The 2-4-6-8-6-4-2 structure of the Eintou is crucial in terms of African and African American philosophy. That is, in our culture, life is a cycle. Everything returns to that from which it originates. The concept of a pearl, which is a sphere, and the cyclic nature of the Eintou's structure captures this I think very poignantly. The life of the Eintou begins with two syllables or words, expands as though growing and then returns to two syllables or words. In this the Eintou, as we, never escapes its beginnings or history. We flow from, through, and ultimately return to that from which we come. Recently (A Brother Speaks of Langston) I have experimented with Eintou sequences as a means of symbolically demonstrating our concentric interconnectedness with our history, culture and ancestors:

The seven lines of the Eintou symbolically represent the Nguzo Saba or seven principles of African American Culture. This realization sparked me to write several acrostics, one of which I offer for your consideration and examination:

Kwanzaic Wisdom IV

The Charge

Keep this

within your hearts

afracentric people:

never accommodate negrown

zigzags, fencesitting, nor

abnegative

attacks

In terms of its rhythms and metrics, the Eintou is again firmly situated within African American cultural practices; In "Black Literature and Literary Theory" edited by professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr., James Snead offered the essay, "Repetition as a figure of Black culture" (PP 59-79). In this essay, Snead relays the following:

"so the second way in which repetition enters the dimension of culture is in the necessity for every culture to maintain a sense of continuity about itself:" (pg. 60)

"In black culture, the thing...is there for you to pick up when you come back to get it. If there is a goal...it continually cuts back to the start, in the musical meaning of 'cut' as an abrupt, seemingly unmotivated break ...with a series already in progress and a willed return to a prior series" (pg. 67)

I believe the varying meter of the Eintou captures the spirit of what Snead describes about our culture. That is, the rhythm of the Eintou employs varying meters or cuts from line to line, that can sometimes seem arbitrary or unmotivated, but taken with the whole, offer a poignant meaning to the observant reader. The form, as does the music of our culture "cuts" back against itself to pick up what has been laid down before-much like we do when we return through history to glean much needed ancestral wisdoms. The rhythms of the Eintou approach the goals of Jazz and Blues rhythms with their improvised "cuts," that is: seemingly random movements that when taken as a whole reveal an underlying unity of structure and meaning.

Still At Sea

Pregnant-

contracting waves

waxing, waning- she swells

with ancestral souls in anguished

labor, to deliver

centuries of

stillborn

Mourning Moon

More dead

than dying, the

Moon succumbs to the pale

sun. Dauntless, her knights forlornly

fall with each uprising.

She weeps through the

Mornings

Now, in as much as the Eintou, in the ideal, as an African American form, is consumed with African American themes of love, struggle, philosophy, etc., it's flexibility allows it to bound beyond these, as Johnson's challenge set forth. I believe he realized that any African American form must ultimately have the flexibility to encompass so called "universal" themes as poignantly and skillfully as it does African American themes if it is to survive and maintain relevancy to the whole of American life and culture, of which, ultimately, we are apart:

lust is

poetry-read

hot! the thumbing through which

entertains our passions until

the publishing of love's

monumental

epic

Disconsolate

Without

you, this within

existence has become

a galactic writhing myself

like a black hole of odd

-ment, about whose

core, this

quasi

oblivious

stellar object pulses

lifelong signifyings, marking

the region where we used

to be full of

fusing

I do not wish it to suffer the fate the Haiku nearly suffered during the 19th century: because it was too restrictive in its "rules" it nearly became extinct. When I write them, I admit, I have primarily as my objective painting reflections of African American culture and philosophy, or relaying what I feel to be timely messages to the African American community:

The Point of Consciousness?

Blackman

you claim to be

awake, but tell me: what's

the purpose of opening your

eyes if others prescribe

what and how you

perceive?

In the hands of others, however, I would hope they feel free to take "poetic license." I would expect nothing less. My greatest desire is: no matter who writes one, or on what theme, the form is recognized as emanating from African American culture and history.

The closest analogies that may be made between the Eintou and other forms are these: in terms of language employment and message, it is much like the Crapsey Cinquain and the traditional (classic) Haiku. It is similar to the cinquain in its form and brevity. The cinquain as a syllabic has a pattern of 2-4-6-8-2, and those possessing less than adequate poetic knowledge often mistake the Eintou for a failed attempt at a cinquain. The Eintou however is more symmetric which allows the poet greater flexibility with regard rhyme and rhythms. Also unlike the cinquain (as conceived originally by Crapsey), the Eintou relies heavily on metaphor, simile, and double entendre to relay its messages (although, this is not a strict requirement of the form).

The Eintou is like the classical Haiku in that it usually employs nature themes to relay its message (again, however, it is not restricted to these themes). Like the Haiku, it does rely heavily on brevity and conciseness, or economy of words. And like the Haiku, it usually leaves much to the reader's imagination. Unlike the Haiku, it is more complete in the picture it presents in that the relationships in the poem are clearer than those in the Classical Haiku. And unlike the Haiku, which relies on simplistic language, the Eintou again does not, employing simile, metaphor, and double entendre.

As yet, the Eintou has met with no serious analysis. Since its development in January 2000, the form has become a little more recognized and exposed, but as yet it has not captured the attention of the African American community. I have read some very good Eintous, and I hope more of our talented poets will lend their skills to the form. As yet, however, it is a matter of remaining hopeful.

I am still actively engaged in research and discussion attempting to make sure the form did not exist prior to Jan 2000. So far, I have successfully repelled all attempts to negate it as a "new" form. There do not seem to be any published anywhere (at least in the US). After over two years, I am nearly confident it is original.

I hope this helps you and satisfies your inquiry.

Always your brother

Akintiunde

The Eintouist calls for submissions

[1] See Eugene B. Redmond’s Drum Voices: The Mission of Afro-American poetry